NAS – The Ultimate Storage Solution

Posted: May 20, 2016, 6:13 am

Whether you have heard of a NAS or not, check out why we think every household should have one.

One of the most popular pieces of equipment we are installing for our customers now is a NAS. NAS stands for Network Attached Storage and is essentially a data storage unit that connects to your home network. A home NAS unit typically has 2 to 4 hard drives on which you can store all of your family photos, music, movies and other files in a safe and easily accessible place. What makes a NAS different to an external hard drive plugged into your computer is that a NAS also enables you to share the stored files with other devices on your home network (computers, TVs, mobiles, games consoles) using apps as an interface.

So why do you need a NAS?
If you are like many of our customers, one of the challenges you may have is that you have a vast and ever increasing number of files which are stored all over the place – on desktops, iPads, phones, laptops, external drives etc. This can make it hard to keep track of where your files and most importantly, if a hard drive fails, or you lose a phone or camera, you are always at risk of losing those memories with it.

Storing on the Cloud is an option but you may find that the costs of sufficient storage can be an expensive monthly commitment. If you have a large volume of data, your broadband can experience blockages as bandwidth is consumed whilst backing up. Having a NAS system provides 4 major benefits:

1. Central storage: It allows you to store all of you documents, photos and media files in one central place so that they are always ready to use and enjoy no matter what device you are using.
For example you can work on a document on your laptop in bed, even if you started it on your desktop in your home office. Meanwhile someone else in your family can be watching a movie stored on the NAS and is streaming to the TV.

2. Remote access: You can securely access your NAS from anywhere in the world (providing you have internet access). For example you can visit a friend’s house and share your latest holiday snaps or access your music library when abroad.

3. Simple backup: A NAS makes it easy to back up your data. The contents of all of your computers on your network can be copied to the NAS on a regular schedule so you never have to worry about losing data. Plus, if your NAS has at least 2 hard drives, it can be configured in such a way that one drive can mirror the other inside the NAS. This means that whatever you store on one hard drive is simultaneously stored on the other like a live, instant backup.

4. Safe and secure: A NAS keeps your files safe and secure. You can set it up with exact precision as to which members of your household can access different files and folders. In addition, most NAS use security technology that prevents unwanted intruders in gaining access to your files.

In our opinion, these key advantages make a NAS the ultimate solution to lack of space issues. There are a number of different NAS servers on the market with varying storage capacity and functionality.

Which NAS to get?
The smallest NAS we recommend will have 2-Bays and two 3TB hard drives, which will give you 3 TB of storage. If you have a vast amount of data and expect the volume to continue to increase, a 4-Bay NAS with up to 4 4TB hard drives would provide up top 12TB of storage.

Synology is the brand we highly recommend and we are one of the main dealers of Synology in Singapore. Some of the Synology NAS servers have features such as a “Download Station” to allow you to download and store films, music etc. using torrent sites. With all the recent clamp down on access to US Netflix, this is a fantastically easy way to still watch your favourite TV programs (Using our NAS, we have just completed watching Season 4 of House of Cards!).
So what are the costs?
A NAS is an investment and prices start at around $850 ranging up to $2,000. You should remember that purchasing a NAS server can often be on a par with, or even cheaper than, purchasing multiple storage drives for a set of computers or vast amounts of data. In terms of time taken to set up, to configure the NAS and train you on how to use it, it will take about 3 hours of Tekkie Help.

Tekkie Help is an authorised retailer of Synology NAS servers. Call us now on 81138682 to request a price list, book a private demo or to discuss your general storage requirements in more detail.